#china #supplychain Using Data to Power the Supply Chain - EBN

Check out any supply chain survey conducted within the past few years and the term "visibility" will rank at the top of the wish list. Suppliers, distributors, and end-customers all want to track the movement of parts as they work their way toward becoming finished goods. But each of these partners needs different data at different points in the supply chain to fulfill their concept of visibility. As a result, this data resides in silos and isn't shared across the supply network. This isn't a bad system -- each partner gets enough information to satisfy its needs. But openly sharing data has a lot of advantages. First, the quality of the data improves as more companies provide information. Second, this aggregated information can be used more effectively to spot and interpret trends. And finally, data can be communicated in real-time across the network to give partners a ch...